Clostridium difficile, which produces gram-positive bacterium, is an anaerobic toxin that gets transmitted through fecal-oral route. Clostridium difficile infection occurs during antibiotic treatment or can be caused due to healthcare associated infection with clinical manifestation ranging from asymptomatic infection to watery diarrhea or serious intestinal condition such as colitis and colonic perforation. This infection can be diagnosed by enzyme immunoassays for toxins or Clostridium difficile glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and nucleic acid amplification tests for Clostridium difficile toxin genes or endoscopy. Limited types of drugs such as metronidazole, fidoxamycin and vancomycin are only available for the treatment of Clostridium difficile infection. In case of any severe pain or toxic megacolon in abdominal wall, patients undergo surgery for removal of infected portion.

Increasing prevalence of Clostridium difficile infection to boost Clostridium difficile infection treatment market. Clostridium difficile infection is prevalent in old people, people with weak immune system, people under long term broad spectrum antibiotic, and people who have undergone intestinal surgery. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Clostridium difficile is the major cause of healthcare associated infection causing around 500,000 infection and 29,000 deaths per year in the U.S. The recent increase in incidences and severity of Clostridium difficile is subjected to increasing use of broad spectrum antibiotic such as cephalosporins, clindamycin, penicillin or fluoroquinolone and emergence of hypervirulent NAP1/BI/ribotype 027 strains, which are more resistant to present class of antibiotics. Furthermore, lack of compliance of hygiene norms in hospitals and uncontrolled use of broad spectrum antibiotic is increasing the rate of prevalence of this infection. All these factors are expected to drive growth of Clostridium difficile infection treatment market.

Increasing incidence of Clostridium difficile infection demands for strengthening of research and development program, thereby propelling growth of Clostridium difficile infection treatment market. For instance, in 2017, Actelion conducted phase III clinical trial for comparing cadazolid with vancomycin for the treatment of Clostridium difficile associated diarrhea. Furthermore, in 2018, Rebiotix Inc., a clinical stage microbiome company initiated phase III trials for microbiota drug, RBX2660 for rehabilitation of microbial flora after Clostridium difficile infection and mechanism of restoration was demonstrated by using collaborator, CoreBiome’s BoosterShot technology. Moreover, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designated RBX2660 as Breakthrough Therapy for its potential to prevent recurrent Clostridium difficile infection. In 2017, Finch and Crestovo merge aimed at development of microbiome pipeline for Clostridium difficile infection.

On the basis of region, the global Clostridium difficile infection treatment market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. North America is expected to be a dominant market region over the forecast period due to increasing prevalence of Clostridium difficile infection in this region. Furthermore, European economies are expected to face a decline in Clostridium difficile infection treatment market due to mandatory surveillance, monitoring of antibiotic prescriptions, and reformed compliance with isolation, hand washing, and hygiene protocols.